French midfield prospect Adrien Rabiot scored the opening goal last night as PSG knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League.

The midfielder netted in the seventh minute, cancelling out Chelsea's away goal from the first leg, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic went onto score a late winner after Diego Costa equalised.

Rabiot is a player better known in England for appearing in the gossip columns than on the pitch, and it was a sign of his progress that he played such a prominent role in a big game.

He has been linked with signing for Tottenham Hotspur on multiple occasions, while at one stage it was even claimed a deal had been struck.

Here's a brief timeline of the reported interest...

August 2014:The Express report Tottenham 'dramatically' enter the race to try and beat Arsenal and Chelsea to Rabiot's signature.

January 2015: The Star report Tottenham agree a deal to sign Adrien Rabiot on loan for the rest of the season.

June 2015: The Telegraph report Tottenham could re-ignite their interest in Rabiot during the summer.

December 2015: Talksport report Tottenham could fight it out with Arsenal to sign Rabiot on loan in January.

Needless to say, none of the moves ever came off and Rabio remained a PSG player.

He had been seen as a player with a bit-part role at the club due to the excellence in midfield of established stars, Marco Verratti, Thiago Motta, and Blaise Matuidi, but this season he has been forcing his way into the starting line-up more frequently.

Last night he was picked as a starter at Stamford Bridge, while former Spurs midfielder Benjamin Stambouli was an unused substitute.

Whether Tottenham need him with Dele Alli and Eric Dier is another matter, while PSG are now a lot more unlikely to let him leave, especially to go out on loan as was previously suggested.

Rabiot completed all 90 minutes, touching the ball 107 times and completing 90 per cent of his passes, while also making five tackles, the most of any PSG player.

His performance was enough to leave Tottenham fans wishing they had made a move, or urging them to revisit their interest. An upgrade on Nabil Bentaleb or Ryan Mason? On last night's performance, yes.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs is a writer who is keen to embrace the internet revolution. He first started writing for us in June 2011 and commenced his new role as Sports Editor in February 2012.
As a trained journalist he has met famous faces from Mr T to Boris Johnson. He once featured in an England World Cup music video too, but it did not make the charts.
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